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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Some Musings on Rewriting Old Classics

In my January post, I mentioned I was reading The Humming
Room by Ellen Potter. I’ve also blogged about my love of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, one of the gems from my childhood, in the past. I
specifically picked up The Humming Room because it was promoted as having been
inspired by The Secret Garden. And yes, the basic plotline of an orphaned girl
being whisked away to live on her uncle’s estate where she finds an abandoned
garden only to nurse it back to life, managing to repair some very damaged
family relationships along the way, is definitely intact. But Potter moves the
story from turn-of-the-century Yorkshire to modern upstate New York, and trades
Archibald Craven’s mysterious Misselthwaite Manor on the English moors for a
creepy old children’s tuberculosis sanatorium on an isolated island.

I have to confess, I don’t always enjoy rewritings of
classic stories, but I enjoyed The Humming Room, which for me, captured a lot
of the charm and atmosphere of mystery that I always loved about The Secret
Garden. And I think I was more comfortable with the fact that the author chose
to write a story “inspired by” The Secret Garden rather than continuing Burnett’s
original story and fiddling with her original beloved characters. Somehow, The
Humming Room felt more authentic to me because the author was creating new
characters of her own rather than trying to reconstruct another author’s voice.
That doesn’t always go so well.

In the 1990s, a sequel to The Secret Garden was published,
aimed at adult readers and featuring the main characters as grown-ups. I
intentionally stayed away. The reviews I heard said the book was dark and moved the story into R-rated realms far, far from the innocence and magic of the original children's book. Like I said, The Secret Garden was one of the gems of my childhood. I just couldn't face that.

So...I guess I’m a little on the fence about whether beloved
classic books should be re-written or have sequels or continuations authored by
someone who is not the original author. As a huge Jane Austen fan, I expect
that each year will bring with it the requisite handful of sequels to Pride and
Prejudice, some of which, I have to admit, are a lot of fun. Others, however,
have made me cringe. Really cringe.

One thing’s for certain: we tend to see a lot of rewritings
and continuations of classic books in children’s lit. Check out the Wikipedia
page detailing the long, long list of works inspired by or continuing L. Frank
Baum’s beloved and hugely popular Oz series:

I adored The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls
Wilder when I was a kid. But the continuation series that started in the 1990s,
while not badly written by any stretch of the imagination, still never quite
held the same magic for me. Laura Ingalls was writing her own
memories—describing places she’d actually been, people she’d actually met,
experiences she’d actually had. When others took over the writing of the Little
House books, it never felt quite as personal or detailed or fully realized to
me.

So while I have read retellings of classic stories that I’ve
enjoyed, I guess I’m still a little on the fence. I know I, as an author, would
be extremely intimidated by the responsibility of taking beloved
long-established characters and doing their stories justice, of capturing their
voices and essences. And I’d constantly be thinking about what the original
author would think of my work.

No doubt it’s a huge responsibility and undertaking, and one
that some authors can actually do very well. Other times, maybe not so much…

What do you think about retelling or retooling old classics?-Dawn Lairamore

16 comments:

Dawn, I love the re-tellings of myths and classics if done well. And I also adored The Secret Garden as a child (still have my beautiful hard cover) and still re-read the entire Little House series every other year (I wanted to be Laura so much). And with The Humming Room you had me at "creepy old children’s tuberculosis sanatorium on an isolated island." That is a cool twist that I would read! My own book Joshua and the Lightning Road is a twist on the Greek Olympians that was fun to imagine and write.

As far as continuation of books or even sequels years down the road? That does not often work for me. For example the 2nd book to my beloved My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (The Far Side of the Mountain) written over 30 years later was a deep disappointment for me - the voice was not the same, but how could it be written 30 years later? Or perhaps it just did not hold the same magic for me as the continuation of Little House in the 1990s did for you.

I love re-tellings of myths, fairy tales, folklore, and the like, too, Donna. I think they can be a little easier to take than prequels/sequels/continuations of more modern writings. You don't really have to worry about capturing the voice or style of a particular author.

I am a total curmudgeon about this sort of thing. I love Jane Austen with a white hot passion (in fact, my wife and I had our first conversation about good old Jane--we were such English major dweebs!) and I run a mile when people try to get me to read these "inspired by" novels. Just this Christmas both my mother and my sister dangled Joanna Trollope's contemporary retelling of Sense and Sensibility in front of me. You'd be glad you weren't there to see my reaction!

(Info on the execrable Austen Project: "The Austen Project pairs six bestselling contemporary authors with Jane Austen’s six complete works: Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion and Mansfield Park. Taking these well-loved stories as their base, each author will write their own unique take on Jane Austen’s novels." Aaccckkk!)

Dawn, The Actual and Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher comes to mind. I also I really enjoy re-telling's of myths, like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Loki's Wolves and Rump, to name a few. It really just depends on whether the voice or characters grab at me and if there is an interesting twist. But, I'm still on the fence too.

I like re-telling as retellings. If I try to compare them too much to the original it spoils it for me. In my opinion, nothing quite compares to classics, but if it's a book I love I'm willing to give a re-telling a try.

I did, however, try (and fail!) to read the prequel to Anne of Green Gables. It was definitely not kindred spirits to the original Anne books.

Loved, loved, love The Secret Garden as a girl. I enjoyed The Humming Room for the same reasons you did. I think taking on a beloved book must truly be daunting. Ellen Potter's approach was a good one, I think.

But it's my own story, so I don't have to face the drama if I'd done a direct retelling (including getting the rights to do since that story is not in the public domain) and I frankly have enough of my own ideas. I think this is also part of why I get annoyed with/STRUGGLE with beta-readers comparing "Gabriel" to other books

Before someone goes into the "There's no such thing competition among writer" thing, understand I'm saying this from the business side, not the creative side.

Whether we have agents or not, we have to write these query letters where we're FORCED to think about these things, and writing ABOUT is just a different matter than writing the ACTUAL BOOK. Period. Okay, off my soapbox now! (Smile)

But I know so many authors and illustrators who I love, read and respect who've done retellings or (unofficial or imagined) sequels or prequels to classic books (in the public domain) and often got their start with these kinds of books, so I don't want to throw out the bath water with the proverbial baby here (See, I even here used an often cliched saying and made it my own! LOL)

I mean, take "Origami Yoda" for instance. While the author would've had a backup plan had they not be able to use the "Star Wars" references, it wouldn't be the same.

Granted, it wasn't the same as doing an "authorized" book in the franchise, but it's an example of how it can be done with respect to the source material.

While I understand the hesitance of those commented before me about even READING a "outsider" continuing or expanding on an existing author's work, never mind writing it themselves, I also feel it doesn't have to be the "End of the World."

Don't get me wrong, I have been let down as a reader by this kind of thing, too.

That said, Grimm's Fairy Tales and Aesop's Fables get told and retold all the time, and aside from occasional discourse about the more lighthearted takes of them (Disney and Non-Disney) they still click and are fun when done well.

I've read various CBI (Children's Book Insider) newsletters throughout the years that often encouraged writers to retell familiar stories in the public domain, or make it their own.

Overall, I'd say it just depends on a book by book basis.

While it's easy for me to say (since I'm nowhere near the point where there's "fan fiction" based on my stories) I still think it's a big compliment that someone loves an author's work enough to want to write in it themselves.

Granted, few ever goes as far as trying to actually publish it, but fan fiction got me started writing, and eventually graduated to writing my own stuff so I could publish some of it down the line.

I used to write fan fiction myself so perhaps that's how I can see this from a less narrow filter. But I totally understand others comments about how it can go wrong, or you just don't want your love of the original to be tarnished.

Yes, there is something to be said about imitation being the highest form of flattery, or I suppose in this case, wanting to re-tell or continue a classic story for the very reason that is it much beloved. But I think you hit the nail on the head Taurean that whether the retelling is well done is really something you just have to judge on a book by book basis. Like you, I've both enjoyed and been let down by retellings. They just have to be judged on their own merits.

Right, and just because one person's retelling doesn't sit right with you, it doesn't mean another author's take couldn't.

Besides, one thing I feel people who witch about retellings of public domain "Classics" they loathed forget is that (unless it's out of print) we always have the original story. It's not being taken from you or is any less special.

There are a lot of people who didn't like the the film versions of "Because of Winn-Dixie" or "The Tale of Desperaux" but it doesn't change the fact that we still have the original story still available to read in libraries or for people to buy.

Besides, even if the movie sucked for you (which again, is subjective) it can make you curious to read the original book and like that better.

In any case, I'm particularly torn on this topic because I was a movie lover LONG before I learned to love books like I do now, and I don't want people to think ill of the storytelling movies in general are capable of, just because a movie version of a book you loved doesn't do it for you.

Right, and just because one person's retelling doesn't sit right with you, it doesn't mean another author's take couldn't.

Besides, one thing I feel people who witch about retellings of public domain "Classics" they loathed forget is that (unless it's out of print) we always have the original story. It's not being taken from you or is any less special.

There are a lot of people who didn't like the the film versions of "Because of Winn-Dixie" or "The Tale of Desperaux" but it doesn't change the fact that we still have the original story still available to read in libraries or for people to buy.

Besides, even if the movie sucked for you (which again, is subjective) it can make you curious to read the original book and like that better.

In any case, I'm particularly torn on this topic because I was a movie lover LONG before I learned to love books like I do now, and I don't want people to think ill of the storytelling movies in general are capable of, just because a movie version of a book you loved doesn't do it for you.

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